Commuter Rail Task Force meeting covers future of project

A Wednesday night meeting of the Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force at the town library revealed that the future of commuter rail in this area is still very cloudy, though Sen. Michael Rodrigues said he’s got some kind of timeline. “I wanted it to happen 10 years ago,”...

A Wednesday night meeting of the Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force at the town library revealed that the future of commuter rail in this area is still very cloudy, though Sen. Michael Rodrigues said he’s got some kind of timeline.

“I wanted it to happen 10 years ago,” Rodrigues said, adding that he thought commuter rail could be a reality 10 years from now.

"It’s realistic to think it could take 10 years to complete, design, engineering and construction,” Rodrigues said.

Rodrigues told the audience that the legislative delegates from this area were united in their effort to bring commuter rail to the region.

“There aren’t many who are adamantly opposed to it,” Rodrigues said of legislators throughout the state and their attitude toward commuter rail. “There’s really no organized opposition.”

Rodrigues said extension of commuter rail to Fall River and New Bedford is one of only two projects mentioned by name in Gov. Deval Patrick’s tax infrastructure bill. The other is the extension of the Greenbush commuter line near Boston.

“We weren’t voting for any tax package that didn’t contain language about commuter rail in this area,” Rodrigues said.

Funding remains a problem. Patrick’s tax plan proposes $1.9 billion in tax increases, from a $1 increase in the tax on a pack of cigarettes, to increased taxes on pipe tobacco and cigars, as well as an increase in the gasoline tax and a tax on software development.